Un-Stikkit

I’ve been using Stikkit since their release last fall, but today I finally concluded that it just isn’t doing what I need. Having all of my notes on a remote server was useful when I worked from more than one computer, but now I do more-or-less everything from my own laptop. But the biggest problem is that notes felt invisible to me once they were in the system. When I exported all of my data, I discovered at least one item that I’ve recorded twice, because I didn’t remember doing it. The service just isn’t visual enough for me. I need to be able to spread my notes out, shuffle them around, see how things fit together. Paper isn’t ideal because it’s not searchable, but Stikkit’s data model is too flat, even with tagging.

So… I’m looking for a replacement. My temporary solution is text files, but if anyone has a more elegant suggestion (cheap or homebrew preferred), I’d like to hear it. Personal wiki? One of those snazzy research programs like DEVONthink or Yojimbo?

I’ve struggled with the exact same problems for a long time. My current system is to keep all my notes in text files on the desktops of both my home and work machines. I rsync each desktop to a different folder on a USB flash drive, so that the files are available to me, regardless of which machine I’m sitting at.